When a Building Steels the Scene
On a hot July day earlier this summer, the big moment had arrived.
It was show time.
After pouring much of their creative energy into making it all as captivating as possible,
which included choosing colors and textures and placement that spoke to their vision,
Montie and Jayna Powell were ready for people to start arriving.
They were proud of the results and believed that the days and nights that they and others
devoted to this venture were well worth it, and it was their hope that the people living in
their hometown of Dumas, TX agreed.
They did, but there was one thing that captivated the audience above all else.
“It was by far the star of the show,” says Montie. “Several folks wanted to know all about
it. We must have explained
how it came to be 30 times.”
The Powell’s project was not a
film (although they do that as
well) or a play or anything
that is usually associated with
star power—it was their back
yard,
which
includes
a
recently
constructed
steel
Quonset hut that they have
dubbed their ‘barn’.
So how did the Powell’s end
up with a yard full of people
ogling their flora and foliage
and foray into construction?
It began with a neighbor, a woman whom the Powell’s hired to make the couple’s
landscaping vision a reality by infusing a natural ‘wild’ motif into the settings of both the
front and backyards.
During one of her trips to the local greenhouse and plant nursery, the Powell’s neighbor
became aware of an annual event benefiting Dumas, designed to encourage those living in
the community to become more engaged and proud of their yards. Excited by her latest
landscaping efforts, she submitted the Powell’s for entry in the 2011 Back Yards in Bloom
Tour.
They were up for the challenge.
“We hustled to complete a few tasks that had been lingering on the barn,” says Montie.
“We cleaned up the back yard, chalked up the grill, filled the ice chest with refreshments,

and made ready for a herd of strangers traipsing thru our yard. It went great. Lots of
‘OOOOooos and AAAahhhhs’ over the yard, but, mostly ‘WOWWWwwws’ when they saw
the barn. Turns out, the Back Yards Tour was not a competition per say, but just a fun way
to meet other people from our community who shared a love of interesting back yards.
Though the people at the newspaper did not pick a winner, they chose only one picture to
post, and it was our yard. Still, I feel as if, yes, we are the winners. And we are very happy
we choose SteelMaster [for our barn].”
The genesis of their backyard building originated in 2006 when Montie and Jayna bought
their home. They say they knew then that they wanted a building like the one they now
have, but it wasn’t until 2009 when they set to task looking for one.
“We searched and shopped online for various types of buildings, but originally we wanted a
wood frame structure,” says Montie. “We called several building companies and general
contractors to request quotes for turn-key construction. The cost was way more than we
expected. Then we found SteelMaster, and we liked what we read on the website. In late
summer of 2009, after we called to speak to a SteelMaster representative, we were
convinced that SteelMaster was the best choice. Initially it was the price, but we became
more pleased as we were made aware of the benefits of the using steel, such as the
strength and ease of installation and assembly.”
For more than 29 years, SteelMaster Buildings, which is located in Virginia Beach, VA has
manufactured, designed, and supplied pre-fabricated arched steel structures to 40,000
customers located in every state of the United States, in 40 countries, and on seven
continents around the world.
According to Michelle Wickum, who is SteelMaster Buildings’ director of marketing,
strength and ease of installation and assembly work along with affordability, sustainability,
and versatility to make the company’s buildings wildly popular with homeowners,
entrepreneurs, architects, farmers, the U.S. military and government, NASA, and
corporations.
“Whether it is a unique application for our standard metal buildings or a design that
requires additional support from our design team, SteelMaster has decades of steel
building experience in solving building and design challenges,” says Wickum. “Our strong
yet versatile clear span building design allows us to meet the needs for a wide range of
custom steel building applications. This uniquely qualifies SteelMaster to competently
address all questions and concerns, and then create a custom steel building solution that
will work structurally, functionally, and aesthetically.”
Although the outside of the Powell’s SteelMaster building is largely complete with tongue
and groove timbers, Clinker bricks, and a broad array of items that they had collected,
including various rocks brought to them by friends, the inside is a work in progress. The
upstairs will ultimately contain an office area, guest bedroom, and storage space. The
downstairs will be a garage, storage for their camper, truck, and motorcycles, and a small
bathroom. Additionally, the barn will serve as a photo/video/music studio for the couple’s
side business, PunkinMusher Productions, LLC.

Along with the help of friends, the Powell’s hired a carpenter and master brick layer to
tackle building portions of their barn—but they both have spent many hours working on it
as well, just the two of them.
“It was a lot of work for the two of us, but doing this together was super duper awesome,”
says Jayna. “We looked forward to the late evenings of arch building. I was on the rope
ladder (which we purchased online and is a definite must) on the top of our SteelMaster
during construction, and Montie was underneath on the scissor lift that we rented as we
needed it. There was many a night when I would be laying on top of our barn holding my
wrench in place waiting on Montie to get in position. The ‘beep, beep, beep’ of the scissor
lift could be heard as Montie aimlessly swirled around beneath me. I would tap on the roof
and ask what he was doing. It was an awesome time. Our SteelMaster is definitely a work
of art. Special thanks goes out to all of our friends that did come out to lend us a hand and
to our neighbors that didn’t report us for the loud ‘beep, beep, beep’ nights.”
In addition to steel buildings like the Powell’s, SteelMaster’s steel and metal preengineered buildings are designed for a broad range of residential and commercial
applications including homes, farm buildings, garages, workshops, agricultural storage,
Quonsets, airplane hangars, RV storage, roofing systems, carports, military buildings,
commercial warehousing, and industrial storage as well as a wide variety of custom
building applications including athletic facilities, retail stores, churches, bus stops, smoke
shacks, doggie dorms, and correctional facilities.